


Sans a Smile

by comic_ztar789



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Cinnamon Roll Papyrus (Undertale), Gen, Human Sans (Undertale), Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, Sans is smart, Skeleton Puns, Young Papyrus (Undertale), Young Sans (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 09:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16261181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comic_ztar789/pseuds/comic_ztar789
Summary: Sans has always been running. Whether it's from bullies or from himself, it didn't matter to him. Now he's made a choice, a choice that would change his life forever.Sometimes you need to know when to give up, in order to see where you're going next.





	Sans a Smile

**Author's Note:**

> A boy meets the kindest person he's ever met
> 
> ...
> 
> It's a beautiful day outside
> 
> The birds are sleeping 
> 
> The flowers lay dormant
> 
> On days like these, kids like us...

The first thing he felt when he woke up was horrible horrible pain. 

 

Not serious pain like a broken bone or a sprained leg, but more like everything about himself has been bruised purple, black, and yellow.

 

He groaned as he opened his tired eyes. White light shined from above him and he couldn’t help but close his eyes again. The light has never been good to him. Despite the harshness of the light, he opened his eyes again. His eyes started watering as he forced himself to keep them open. Silent tears rolled down his face. Once he could see again, another obstacle faced him.

Moving. 

 

He groaned at the thought of it, but steeled himself anyways. He attempted to do simple movements. A twitch of his fingers here, the turning of his neck there. He found that these sorts of movements were virtually impossible. Despite this he kept trying. 

 

That lasted for all of two minutes. 

 

He was exhausted by the time he finally gave up, pain proving to be a convincing factor. Instead he resigned himself to observing his surroundings. Again, there was that light shining from the ceiling, casting pale light on his surroundings. This light came from an apparent hole in the ceiling above him, with jagged outcroppings lining it. Straining his peripheral vision, he also noticed that this was indeed a cave. Just as he thought. Stalactites and stalagmites riddled the ceiling and floor as dark stone. The space was quite large, larger than he expected. Silence ruled this secret tomb like a king ruling his subjects. 

 

He sighed to himself closing his eyes.

 

_ “i could sleep.”  _ he thought

 

_ “it’s not like i have anything else to do.” _

 

The dark recesses of his mind claimed him as he drifted away from the world to his own little pocket of reality. Where things were safe. Where it doesn’t hurt.

 

He never meant to climb this mountain. He never wanted to. However in his mind, sometimes it’s easier to run and give up, no matter how cowardly it was in his head. 

 

\---

 

When he woke up again, several hours later, he was almost disappointed. Being flung back to the cruel reality of his situation was not very comforting. He tried going back to sleep, but as always he knew, at this point sleep would never find him. With a resigned sigh he once again tried to move. He couldn’t help being pleased with himself when he was able to move his head comfortably. He experimented a little more, taking more time to assure himself that he won’t scream out in pain if he attempted to get up. After he was sure of himself, he spent a few moments preparing himself for the undoubtable pain he is about to endure. 

 

“ok, ok. you can do this. you can do this.”

 

He has never been good at psyching himself up for anything. Nonetheless, he attempted to sit up. He hissed in pain, squeezing his eyes shut tight. It felt like he was being crushed by a trash compactor. When he was finally sitting, he used his arms to balance himself. He sat there, panting as he let the pain fade away. Once he was relaxed, he opened his eyes tiredly.

 

_ “i’m way too exhausted for this crap.” _

 

While he rested from, in his opinion at that moment, the most stressful moment of his life, he took a better look at where he was. He now realized that he was sitting on stiff-green grass, peeking up from the dry dirt like soldiers in trenches. To his right was an another segment of the cave that led to god only knows where. He concluded that that would be his next stop. 

 

If only he could get up.

 

Locking his eyes on the ground, he gritted his teeth as he prayed to whatever god there is that he is able to stand up. He bent his knees and started standing. He grunted as his legs immediately started screaming. He didn’t stop though. He soon took his hands off the floor and his legs were his only source of staying upright. His knees were shaking and he groaned as the pain suddenly intensified. He kept going. He was almost standing straight, and he was feeling pretty good about his great accomplishment. Suddenly, pain shot straight through him like a bullet through his heart. He gasped as he saw the ground coming closer. 

 

He face-planted onto the floor

 

He screamed. 

 

He fainted.

 

\---

 

His head exploded when he woke up. Groaning, he tasted blood and dirt. He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his throat.

 

_ “good one universe. you’re one real comedian.” _

 

His eyes fluttered open, dispelling any dirt that was near his eyes. This time he felt like he tap danced with the Hulk.

 

“heh.”

 

He shut his eyes as he tried to do a proper push up for the first time in his life. His arms were shaking as he got into a kneeling position. Foregoing the pain and falling he looked around at the now familiar cave that he jokingly called home. He frowned as he looked up. The light had died down. It was dark.

 

He facepalmed at his circumstances. 

 

“well this is just great.”

 

He brushed sand off his black sweatpants as he thought of a plan. 

 

He got nothing.

 

He sighed and shrugged to himself as he attempted to stand up again. His legs were shaking and his muscles still screamed at him to stop, but he couldn’t help but cry out triumphantly when he was finally able to stand up again. 

 

“hah!”

 

He managed brush the dirt out of his brown hair and blue jacket as he looked up at the looming segment of the cave. It almost seemed like it was mocking him. He glared at the alcove in challenge before attempting to walk. His steps were small and clumsy. He almost stumbled on his sneakers a couple of times as he said goodbye to the light and grass and entered this mysterious passage. He had to squint to be able to see in the dark but managed nonetheless. As he kept walking he could feel a cold sweat building up in the back of his neck. There was a doorway. He stopped. It was large and the edges had intricate carvings. The headpiece of the entire doorway showed a peculiar symbol. 

 

Three triangles and a winged circle. 

 

He shivered as he walked through with trepidation filling his bones. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity at the symbol and it was disturbing him. As he kept walking he tried to remember were it was he had seen that symbol. He’s sworn he’s seen it before. His conflicting thoughts were interrupted by crying. Loud, screaming, bawling. He froze in his steps, his heart hammering in his chest. He was suddenly filled with the urge to run away back to that grassy patch and stay there. He almost did. He turned around to take another step. 

 

The crying was even louder, shrill even. He winced to himself as he stopped midstep. He turned back to the source of the crying. He couldn’t see anything yet, but he definitely noticed the weak light that was also shining there. He was at an impasse. He could go back and pretend that nothing is wrong, recover a little more until he’s strong enough to handle anything unexpected. Or... he could check out who is crying and maybe provide some help. This could be time sensitive. Maybe whoever was crying was dying and only had a limited amount of time. Or maybe this person is being attacked by another person and needed help now. However, what good would he do in any of these situations? He already feels like he is going to fall over at any second. What if this was all a trick?

 

_ “no, stop it.” _

 

He turned back to the source of the sound. A grimace was painted on his face.

 

_ “well it can’t hurt to check it out.” _

 

He took slow quiet steps, shuffling really. Inside this new room, was another doorway at the opposite end of it, crafted from strange purple stone. It was identical to the doorway he just came through in every way through craftsmanship. In the middle of the room was another ray of light shining down on another patch of scratchy grass. Sticks and rocks riddled the room as he stayed around the corners in the darkness. He could still hear the crying echoing around the room, even louder now that he was here. 

 

But where was the source?

 

Another scream rang out and he stiffened as he turned in the direction he heard it come from. Near the purple doorway was...a boy? He couldn’t see most of the kid’s face, but he was able to discern an orange and yellow striped shirt, some brown pants, tiny leather shoes, and an oversized crimson scarf around his neck. The kid was leaning against the rock doorframe, hunched up. The kid was bawling his eyes out, and it just hurt his heart to see, well, any kid like that. 

 

He glared down at the floor, cursing himself for how stupid he was being.  

 

He started making his way into the middle of the room, making his steps intentionally noticeable to the kid. His stomach jumped when the kid turned to face him, his sobs turning to hiccups almost immediately. He still couldn’t see his face, and the kid was still sobbing quietly, but at least he calmed down a little. 

 

_ “i guess knowing that your not alone helps...?” _

 

The kid sniffled a little before saying, “H-HELLO?”

 

He tried to put a grin on his face to mask the already building up anxiety inside him.

 

“heya...are you okay?”

 

The kid sniffled a bit and he wrapped his arms tighter around himself.

 

“I-I-I GOT HURT! IT HURTS SO MUCH! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE!”

 

His heart melted for this kid. He-he had to do something. He crouched down onto the floor, giving the poor kid a sympathetic smile.

 

“hey, it’s okay. it’s gonna be okay kid. don’t worry, i’m gonna help you.”

 

He paused a little bit to let the boy quell his sobs. The kid seemed to be getting better. He reached out a hand, beckoning him to come closer.

 

“can you come here? i need to see what’s wrong here in the light...or well lack thereof.”

 

The boy shifted a little, but didn’t move any closer. He whined in pain as he did so.

 

“I-I CAN’T MOVE. IT WILL HURT IF I TRY. MY LEG…”

 

_“ahh. that’s the problem._ _well crap.”_

 

He can’t do anything where the kid is so he would have to, unfortunately, carry him to the light. He shifted a little closer to the kid on his knees. He sighed as he said, 

 

“ok, well i’m gonna have to carry you over here. ok?”

 

The kid shifted away in protest.

 

“B-BUT…”

 

He smiled at him patiently, moving a little closer. 

 

“don’t worry, i’ll try to make sure you don’t feel hurt when i carry you. it’s going  tibia fine.”

 

The kid froze and suddenly started shaking. He frowned.

 

_ “oh god did i do something wrong? damn it i shouldn’t have pushed him. i-i shouldn’t have… _

 

The kid started letting out cries of...laughter. He was shaking from how much he was laughing.

 

...Now he was really confused. 

 

_ “what’s he laughing about?” _

 

In between laughs the boy said, 

 

“OH MY GOSH WAS THAT A PUN?! NYEH HEH HEH HEH! THAT WAS HORRIBLE!”

 

_ “...pun?” _

 

Then he realized what he said. He was...shocked. He was so surprised he couldn’t help but huff out a chuckle himself. 

 

_ “wow. i-i haven’t made a joke in...years.”  _

 

He kept staring at the kid while his laughs died down. Was it with wonderment? Amazement? He didn’t know. All that he knew, was that hearing that kid’s ‘nyeh heh hehs’ made him warm up inside. He smiled warmly at the kid and said,

 

“horrible? i think not. i put a skele- ton of work into that pun, thank you very much.”

 

He had the pleasure of hearing the kid’s laughs rise back up again. The boy was absolutely roaring with laughter, and he could just feel himself growing lighter, his smile widening. Even he joined in with the chorus of laughter filling the room. 

 

“NYEH HEH HEH! OH MY GOSH! S-STOP! THAT IS TERRIBLE!”

 

He couldn’t stop laughing. He couldn’t remember the last time he laughed this hard. He couldn’t remember the last time he laughed period. At that moment though, he didn’t care.

 

“hey, are you saying you got a  bone to pick with my puns?”

 

The kid was laughing so hard he was afraid he was going to have trouble breathing. Invisible tears were coming from his eyes.

 

_ “wow i can’t remember the last time i smiled this much. _

 

The fun of course, can never last. 

 

One minute the kid was lying against the door frame laughing his little heart out, the next minute he was on the floor, on his right side, screaming bloody murder. He shut up. The kid was crying again, and distantly he could only assume the kid fell on his injured leg. However that’s not what made his heart stop. That’s not what made his blood run cold. That’s not what made his throat close up.

 

This kid, that he has been talking to for the past 10 minutes, is dead...but he’s moving? This kid’s face, no this kid’s skull, it was as white as paper. His eye sockets were as black as pitch, swirling voids that stare back. His nasal bone was a dark upside heart and his eternal smile gleamed like snow. Faintly glowing orange tears were streaming down his smooth cheekbones. 

 

Bones. 

 

BONES. 

 

He was frozen, petrified really. He was too shocked to move, hardly breathing. The skeleton child, kept crying and now he really didn’t know what to do.

 

_ “oh my god. oh my god. holy shit. this-this kid is-. wait no. am i dead? did i die from that fall and now i’m in hell? b-but this skeleton is moving, crying even. did-did i hit my head when i fell? or did i finally lose the little bit of sanity that i had left?” _

 

The skeleton’s bawling died down into sniffles. He was on the floor, on his right side facing him. The kid was much closer to the light than he was before, intensifying his features. He still hasn’t said anything.

 

_ “he-he is kinda...adorable...for a skeleton.” _

 

Without thinking he said,

 

“a-are you a sk-skeleton?”

 

The skeleton kid looked up at him, sniffling.

 

“YES.”

 

_ “well i guess that rules out the ‘your crazy’ theory.” _

 

The kid stayed silent, waiting.

 

“a-are you...dead?”

 

_ “what an insensitive question.” _

 

The kid made a confused noise, before saying, 

 

“N-NO?”

 

_ “...huh, that also rules out the ‘i’m in hell’ theory.” _

 

He was lost in thought when he eventually heard the kid’s voice.

 

“ARE YOU OKAY?”

 

He was just sitting on the ground when his eyes widened. 

 

_ “never heard that before” _

 

The kid looked at him worriedly. He couldn’t help but nod numbly at him as he asked the kid, 

 

“are there...more of you?”

 

The kid blinked twice in a confused manner.

 

“YES. WELL MY DAD AND I ARE THE ONLY SKELETONS THAT I HAVE SEEN, BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF MONSTERS!”

 

_ “monsters. perfect.”  _

 

“I-IF YOU DON’T MIND MY ASKING, ARE YOU A H-HUMAN?”

 

He stayed quiet for a second, weighing his options. He nodded carefully.

 

He saw the kid gasp loudly...somehow. None of this made sense to him. 

 

“WOWIE! I HAVE NEVER SEEN A HUMAN BEFORE!”

 

His eyes widened in surprise with the kid’s outburst. 

 

_ “never seen a human before? so i’m...alone?” _

 

The kid was staring at him, drinking him up. He couldn’t help but look away. He wasn’t some animal to be gawked at. He has had enough of that on the surface. The skeleton looked away in embarrassment. They stayed quiet for a moment or two, avoiding each other's eyes, or eye sockets in the kids case. It was the kid that finally broke the silence.

 

“ARE-ARE YOU HERE TO HURT US?”

 

His head turned to the kid so fast he thought he was going to break his neck. He was filled with surprise and outrage at what the kid just hinted at. He shook his head vigorously.

 

“no. no i would never hurt you. i don’t wanna hurt anyone. all i know right now is that you have a broken leg, which is probably even worse for a skeleton, and that you need help. ok? don’t be scared. i’m gonna help you.”

 

When he was done he was almost red with embarrassment.

 

_ “...i think this is the longest day of my life.”   _

 

The skeleton child looked back at him with something akin to wonderment and...fondness?

 

It must have just been his imagination. 

 

He gave the kid a sheepish grin before softly saying, 

 

“ok, so… i'm going to carry you here to the light, and then we´ll see how things go from there...ok?”

 

This time, the skeleton child grinned brightly at him, an unwavering trust shining in his eye sockets. He flinched internally, debating with himself if it was really worth it to have another person look at him like that. He pushed the thought away as he slowly approached the kid, whose pain seemed to be forgotten for the time being. He paused in front of the kid as he looked up at him expectantly. 

 

_ “this is gonna be weird.” _

 

Slowly and carefully he reached out and slipped his arms were the kid’s armpits would have been if he had flesh. He froze momentarily as the feeling of thin bones settled in him. 

 

_ “well that’s gonna keep me up at night.” _

 

Gently, he lifted the kid up to mind his leg. He saw the kid wince and give out a whimper in response, but otherwise was the picture of bravery. The kid was lighter than he'd thought he’d be but shook it off, chalking it up to being just made of bones. With the feeling of solid bones settled into him he slowly brought the kid to the middle of the room. 

 

“i'm going to put you down...ok?” 

 

“OK…”

 

He slowly lowered the kid, being extra careful. Once his legs touch the ground he leaned the kid back as to not put any weight on the injury. Once the kid was sufficiently balanced on his arms and hands did he let out a sigh of relief. 

 

When he looked back at the kid he saw he had a strange look in his eye sockets.

 

“YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD SOUL…”

 

He visibly stiffened at that.

 

_ “never thought that would be used to describe me” _

 

Despite the thought, he plastered a grin on his face and chuckled.

 

“thanks.”

 

With that, he crouched down and looked the kid in the eye...sockets.

 

“alright, can you tell me where it hurts?”

 

The kid nodded and gestured to his right leg.

 

“IT’S MY FIBULA...IT REALLY HURTS.”

 

He nodded and turned his attention to the kid’s right leg. He looked at the kid again and said, 

 

“i’m gonna have to pull up your pant sleeve...ok?”

 

The kid nodded and he thanked the gods the kid’s pants were really loose. He carefully rolled up his pants up to his patella. The kid watched him work the entire time. Once he had rolled up the pants he examined his leg. He winced in sympathy. There was a medium sized crack running through the length of his fibula. 

 

“okay, this is gonna be fine.”

 

He shot the kid a reassuring smile as he looked around for some thick sticks. 

 

As he picked up two thick ones on the corner of the cave, he continued talking.

 

“you’re lucky i know some first aid.”

 

_ “mostly because i had to perform it on myself.” _

 

When he turned back to the kid, his eye sockets were sparkling.

 

“WOWIE! I’VE NEVER MET ANYONE AS KNOWLEDGEABLE AS MY FATHER.”

 

He lightly blushed in embarrassment and chuckled a bit as he came back to the kid, carrying the sticks. 

 

“eh it’s nothing.”

 

He brought up the sticks to the kid’s fibula, but suddenly paused as he looked around, searching. When he spotted the scarf he asked the kid. 

 

“can i borrow your scarf? i need to tie these sticks to your leg.”

 

The kid’s joy shriveled and he curled in on himself. His hands unconsciously went up to his scarf, as if to protect it. 

 

“M-MY SCARF? BUT IT’S VERY…” He trailed off. 

 

He looked at the kid with sympathy on his face as he sat there thinking for a second before an idea came to him and he said,

 

“how about my jacket?”

 

The kid stared at him in confusion. 

 

“my jacket isn't the best thing to use as a tie but it's cool if you don't want to let me use your scarf.”

 

The kid stared at him for what felt like an eternity. When he looked away he seemed to be struggling with something. Eventually the kid shook his head and stared back at him with a determined look on his face. 

 

“NO IT’S FINE. YOU MAY USE MY SCARF.” The kid began to carefully unravel the scarf from around his neck. When he finally finished the task, he presented the scarf to him. 

 

“JUST...PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH IT.” He carefully grabbed the scarf and gave the kid a reassuring smile. 

 

“don’t worry, i’ll be careful with it i, uh-” His voice hitched before he said the word, but he pushed through the mental block and finished the familiar statement.

 

“i promise.” The kid visibly relaxed at the promise and he internally winced as he looked back at the task at hand. He looked down at the scarf in his hands. It was a lot softer than he thought and even longer than it looked at first glance. He couldn’t believe that a kid this small had a scarf so large. He untangled the large ball in his hands and began to carefully wrap the two sticks around the bone. He tried to be careful not to hurt the kid or the scarf, while still applying enough pressure for the splint. As he was working, a sudden thought wriggled into his brain that he couldn’t believe didn’t occur to him sooner. 

 

“oh yeah, by the way what’s your name kid?” The kid suddenly gasped so loudly he thought at first that he accidently hurt him.

 

“OH MY GOSH, I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVEN’T INTRODUCED MYSELF!” 

 

Wow...this kid can be loud when he wants to be. Once he recovered from the short scare of the sudden yelling he heard the kid proclaim, 

 

“MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” 

 

Papyrus, huh. Wait…He looked at Papyrus incredulously. 

 

“papyrus...like…the font?” Papyrus looked at him strangely. 

 

“WHAT’S A FONT?” 

 

...Oh...ok then. Papyrus’ leg forgotten for the time being, he said

 

“a font...like… you know what, it doesn’t really matter. nice to meet you papyrus.” He flashed him a friendly grin, then looked back at his leg. He worked on finishing up the wrapping and tying up the knot. It was silent for a couple of minutes. Just as he finished up the knot Papyrus asked,

 

“WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” He looked at Papyrus.

 

Just as he was about to parrot back what he told everyone who was curious enough to ask for his name, he stopped. It was quiet for a few seconds before he smiled and shook his head at Papyrus, 

 

“eh, it doesn’t really matter.” Papyrus as expected made a questioning noise. They sat there staring at each other for a while. Papyrus huffed and looked at him in indignation. 

 

“WELL OF COURSE IT MATTERS! NAMES ARE IMPORTANT AND I WANT TO KNOW YOURS. WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO CALL YOU?!” 

 

He shook his head and chuckled at Papyrus’ antics.

 

“you can call me whatever you want. make a nickname for me...or something.” 

 

Just as Papyrus was about to argue, he paused. A contemplative look came over his features as he looked away and began thinking. 

 

He watched him for awhile until the alluring power of sleep started to overcome him and he realized he’s been talking to a skeleton for the past half hour. 

 

_ “today has been a...really weird day for me.” _

 

Just as he was about to doze off right there on the dirt floor, Papyrus suddenly exclaimed, 

 

“SANS!” 

 

He suddenly jumped as the temptation of sleep was taken away from him. He turned to Papyrus, eyes wide as he stared at him. Papyrus had a triumphant look on his face as he stared back. 

 

“whaaa?” Papyrus laughed as he repeated what he said, 

 

“SANS! THAT WILL BE YOUR NICKNAME!” Papyrus smiled wide at him and at his ingenious idea. He stared at Papyrus for a couple seconds. 

 

_ “sans...not a bad nickname, but…” _

 

“why sans?”

 

_ “why a font?” _

 

Papyrus wasted no time to explain.

 

“WELL WHEN I FIRST HEARD YOU TALK I NOTICED YOU SPOKE IN COMIC SANS. SO WHEN YOU SAID TO COME UP WITH A NICKNAME FOR YOU I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT ABOUT HOW YOU SPOKE. HOWEVER COMIC SANS IS TOO BIG OF A NICKNAME SO I SHORTENED IT TO ‘SANS’. NYEHEHEHEHEH!” His eye sockets seemed to sparkle by the end of his speech...somehow. 

 

However, he still couldn’t wrap his head around the logic. 

 

_ “i speak in...comic sans...what?” _

 

Millions of thoughts ran through his head until he was shaken by his ruminations by Papyrus’ wide grin. He looked at him. Papyrus looked so excited and hopeful, seeking his approval for his new name.

 

...

 

Sans chuckled. 

 

“alright, cool name. sans it is then. nice to meet’cha”

**Author's Note:**

> Congratulations you made it to the end! 
> 
> Well it actually wasn't that long anyway...but perhaps it could be.
> 
> I have an important choice to make.
> 
> I can either leave the story here and open to the imagination
> 
> ...or I can continue this and shed more light on the events to come. 
> 
> However I want to hear your feedback and opinions on this little idea of mine.
> 
> What do you all think I should do?
> 
> Comment down below your answer and opinions
> 
> Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
